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Monday, 9 June 2014

Eyehategod - S/T (Album Review)

Album Type : Full Length

Date Released : 27/5/2014

Label : Housecore
Records/Century Media Records

EYEHATEGOD,
track listing :

1). Agitation! Propaganda! 02:23

2). Trying to Crack the Hard Dollar
03:02

3). Parish Motel Sickness 03:41

4). Quitter’s Offensive 03:45

5). Nobody Told Me 03:39

6). Worthless Rescue 03:57

7). Framed to the Wall 03:27

8). Robitussin and Rejection 03:38

9). Flags and Cities Bound 07:10

10). Medicine Noose 03:22

11). The Age of Bootcamp 05:10

The
Band :

Jimmy Bower | Guitars

Mike Williams | Vocals

Brian Patton | Guitars

Gary Mader | Bass

Joe LaCaze (R.I.P. 2013) | Drums on
the record

Aaron Hill (2013 – present) | Drums

Review
:

Question
1: is fourteen years a long time?

Answer:
of course it is, jackass.

Dumb
question, Maffew. Fourteen years is most definitely a LONG period of time. A
lot has happened to the world in the past fourteen years. Financial crisis,
various dependencies, the steadily advancing decline of human civilisation.
Also Facebook. All of which leads us to the musical climate we are in today...

Question
2: so is the EHG trademark brand of nihilism still relevant then?

Answer:
same again.

More
so than ever, I'd wager. Many a collective of young pups have taken aim
squarely at the throne and a few have come very close, but as Chris Lambert
said that one time - "There can be only one".

Fourteen
years since they last released an album, EHG have finally returned to try and
remind us all who runs this shit. Arrests, addictions, a fucking HURRICANE -
none of which has managed to conquer them. This new self titled effort is
ballsy, bluesy, pissed off and so filthy that it'll probably give you a dose of
Hep C if you hold it in a funny way for long enough.

First
thing any of us heard in the way of new material was of course 'Agitation! Propaganda!'. Ask Mike
Williams what he classes his band as playing and more than likely he'll tell
you that it's punk rock. And this is punk rock, the very definition of the
thing. Angry, revolutionary, confrontational, the works. Piss and vinegar
hardcore riffing and blasting beats meld with IX's classically skewed
pessimism. The man likes to confuse, and even though there is pretty much zero
optimism concealed within the lyrics the whole track still manages to come
across as a call to arms. Keep 'em guessing, I guess.

It
isn't long before that old friend rears it's ugly, squalid head either.
Feedback as a weapon has pretty much always been the mantra of Eyehategod. It
also welcomes forth 'Parish Motel
Sickness', which wouldn't be out of place on what many people would deem
the definitive album of the band's back catalogue, 'Take As Needed For Pain'.
We are indeed dealing with that level of renewed bite, an invigoration of the
attack, a refreshing of the assault. They almost sound like young men again,
even angrier this time around because the planet has gone that much further
down the shitter. Gigantic grooves abound toward the end, possibly the best
riffs they have ever written. Bower power isn't just produced behind a drum
kit. Jimmy 4 Prez.

I
really could ramble on all day about this. You'd look like the dude that drinks
from the wrong cup in Raiders by the time I was done. So very many highlights.
'Framed To The Wall' is just
ridiculous. More hardcore worship, like it had all gone down in NOLA instead of
NY, DC, Boston
or LA. All that vitality, with a gooey centre of pure resentment. Williams' has
never sounded better, his modern clarity focusing his general state of
discontent to an almost lethal point. The man's mind has always been razor
sharp and now his delivery is too. Authority, you have been warned.

It
would be remiss of me to not make note of the final contributions of late
drummer Joey LaCaze. What an absolute joy it is that his recorded parts have
made their way onto this most fitting of final tributes. The man was a sorely
underrated drummer, and this will surely go some way toward cementing in his
absence what many of us knew to be true while he was present. Rest in power,
good sir.

In
summary, S/T is simply fucking amazing. A powerhouse of attitude, and not even
a return to the ways of old. I firmly believe that this is the best EHG album
recorded, a celebration of what they were and the new found potential they have
realised. It sounds great, it feels better and it will blow your nuts / lady
nuts clean off.

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

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We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks